BELGIUM – Belgian multinational brewer, AB InBev, has delivered top-line growth of 11.3% driven by revenue management initiatives, ongoing premiumization, and expansion of the beer category across most of its key markets supported by increased investment in brands.
During the Second Quarter (Q2) 2022 results, the company reported a volume increase of 3.4% volume and 7.5% revenue per hl growth, whereas EBITDA had a rise of 7.2%.
According to Michel Doukeris, CEO of AB InBev, the relentless execution of the company’s strategy, the strength of its brands, and accelerate digital transformation enabled meeting the moment in an ongoing dynamic operating environment.
Overall, the Budweiser brand owner delivered sustained underlying profit growth of US$1.468 billion in Q2 2022 compared to US$1.507 billion in Q2 2021 and US$2.672 billion in HY22 compared to US$2.606 billion in HY21.
Having delivered volume growth in more than 60% of its markets with total volume growth of 3.4%, the world’s largest brewer said its BEES is now live in 12 markets and has reached 2.9 million monthly active users as of 30 June 2022, a 7% increase versus Q1 2022.
Such a tremendous effort to digitize and monetize its ecosystem has had a good return of 40% of BEES customers becoming marketplace buyers, capturing approximately US$7.4 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) with over 24 million orders placed, a growth of over 60% and 40% respectively versus 2Q21.
In addition, the omnichannel direct-to-consumer (DTC) ecosystem of digital and physical DTC products generated revenue of approximately US$385 million in Q2.
The digital DTC brands generated over 16 million orders in the quarter, led by Zé Delivery in Brazil and the continued expansion of the on-demand platform in 10 additional markets in Latin America.
Furthermore, the company’s mainstream portfolio continued to outperform the industry across most of its key markets delivering high-single-digit revenue growth, led by particularly strong performances in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.
In line, the core portfolio grew revenue by approximately 12% this quarter, led by continued double-digit growth of Michelob ULTRA in the US and Mexico and expansion of Spaten in Brazil.
Under its global business, the company received over US$425 million in revenue a 9.7% outside home markets in the quarter.
Its global brand was led by Corona with 18.2% and Stella Artois with 7.7% while Budweiser grew by 6.1%, despite the impact of COVID-19 restrictions in China, the brand’s largest market.
AB InBev said it will continue to build momentum and deliver consistent profitable growth even in the context of the ongoing dynamic operating environment.
The company expects its EBITDA to grow in line with its medium-term outlook of between 4-8%and revenue to grow ahead of EBITDA from a healthy combination of volume and price.
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